Presentation Design Inspiration - 10 Ideas to Inspire you

Here are 10 good examples that will inspire you to design better slides. Inspiration is everywhere. Let us see what we can pick from home pages of websites around the world.

Example 1. Text over Image

The image is in sync with the message. Ready for Growth? A strong headline. The all caps font looks strong. Few words and clean design.

Example 2. Text over Image

This is another good example of text over image. The text is in white and the background is darker. This increases the contrast and makes it look good. We see all caps here as well. When using few words in a headline - go for all caps. 

Example 3. Image and Text

This example uses bold colors and very less text. The image is large and contains what they do. Notice the font color inside the image is mostly blue. It syncs with the blue in the background.

Example 4. Use of Image

We do not need to write over the image all the time. Try this option. Cover the entire slide with the image and then crop it to half. Use the top half for a strong header. Did you notice something in the header? All caps again!

Example 5. Text over Image in 2 ways

The text over the image has been done nicely. First, on the left, smaller text has been given a background (highlight). The larger text (headline) is not with the highlight. Big and bold text does not need a highlight, but smaller text does. It increases readability. The image is very subdued putting the focus on the content.

Example 6. Grid

This is an interesting way to look at design. The image covers the right half of the slide. The left half has been used for text. The look is good however there's too much text which needs to reduce. 

Example 7. Different

The big and bold headline with so much empty space stands out really well. The image behind the headline is not needed really. Just black text would have done. The sub-headline (body copy) is short. It would have been better to use sans serif fonts for it.

Example 8. Showcasing Clients

This is a new trend that you must follow. When using too many logos on your clients slide, change all of them to grayscale. Click on your logo - Format [under Picture Tools on top] - Color - Recolor - Grayscale.

Example 9. Replace Bullets with Icons

This is an old trick but continues to work nonetheless. This is a simple example of how you should replace three classic bullet points using visuals.

Example 10. Not to inspire, but to avoid

9 examples are enough to inspire you for the day. While scanning through tons of websites, I chanced upon this one and wanted to point it out. The main header is pretty bad. The font, the color - its bad. How do we improve it?

Let us do what the earlier examples have taught us. Make the header bold and change its color. Use sans serif font. Below is a simple treatment that I have tried. For a better treatment, we need to change the image. It's not really great.

I have reduced the transparency (fill) of the text box. I have softened the red and used Alizarin, which is a flat color. The font is Montserrat.

These were 10 examples from which you can draw inspiration for your own slides.

If you are interested to read more about slide design, I recommend these articles:

Read about flat colors here.

Read about new ways to design your agenda slide here.

Read this to see some more good examples from TED.

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Quote on Communication: Piyush Pandey (Ogilvy & Mather)

Flat Design for Presentations - Are you Missing the Trend?

What is flat design and how you can visually improve your slides using it?

Flat design is extremely popular among UI/UX designers who work on mobile apps and websites. Many of the popular apps you use are made using flat designs and colors. This post is a primer on flat designs and colors and how to use them in your presentations. 

Welcome to Flat Design for Presentations 101.

What is flat design?

Flat design is 'flat', which means it does not have any shadow, bevel, emboss and gradient (color becoming lighter / darker). No special effects - effects which were very popular few years back with designers. Flat design looks simple, minimalistic and it is the contemporary way of design. If your presentation is going to be viewed on mobile devices, flat design will do an even better job for you. More than anything else, it is about being in touch with the times.

Flat design is characterised by 3 main things

1. Flat colors without any gradient and shadows
2. Flat fonts: Big and bold sans-serif fonts
3. Lots of empty space on the slide (to make the design come alive)  

What are flat colours?

To start using flat design in your presentations (for shapes, backgrounds, top bar and everything else), visit flatuicolors.com or flatuicolorpicker.com. Here are a few simple samples of flat design for presentations. The difference between flat and not flat is not stark, but subtle. For the audience, the overall feel becomes lighter, contemporary, professional and hence likable. This slide is a normal slide made using colors from MS PowerPoint.

Below is the same slide done in flat colors. The difference is subtle. A light gray background has been added to make it easier on the eye. The orange has been replaced by a more softer and professional looking Alizarin (RGB code: 231, 76, 60). The black has given way to Midnight Blue (RGB code: 44, 62, 80).

How to use flat colors?

Instead of picking colors from MS PowerPoint (Shape Fill), visit the above website and choose a flat color. Note down the RGB code of the color and generate that color in PowerPoint. RGB stands for Red, Green and Blue. By mixing these three colors we can create any color. Here's how we can do it quickly:

Let us work with an example. Say you want to choose a flat color for a shape. Click on the box. Go to Format -- Shape Fill. Choose More Colors -- Custom. enter the code in RGB format and you are done. You have your first flat color in a presentation!

Flat colors are bright. The popular styles are Retro and Monotone. In monotone, we use different tones and shades of the same color.

I have taken this example from designmodo.com. It is an excellent place to read more about flat design. You can check out this this and this article for a lot of inspiration. To get the best look from a flat slide design - leave a lot of empty space. Use bold and big text.

What is a flat font?

Not all fonts go very well with flat designs. There are tons of fonts which you can use but to start your journey you may choose MOHAVE or ALLER for headers and CABIN for body. When you choose to go for a flat design for your presentation, write very few words per slide. Make the fonts big and leave a lot of empty space around the fonts.

That's all for now. I will continue to write more about flat designs and share more and more examples. If you have any question about flat design, just ask it below.

PowerPoint Tip - 3 Professional ways to Design your Agenda slide

Does your agenda slide look like this?

If yes, then it is time for you to look at some new ways of designing this slide. Today we share 3 contemporary ways to redesign your agenda slide and make it look professional.

Style 1 - Linear

This is very simple to create and looks very nice.
For the serial number - Insert a square text box and write down the numbers in big and bold
For the text - Insert a rectangular text box

Style 2 - Photograph

Choose an image which depicts 'an agenda' or relates to the topic of your presentation. Insert a text box in a colour of your choice. Prefer a colour which is in stark contrast with the background image.

Blur the image - Click on the image. Go to format (you can see it up there in MS PowerPoint 2013). Choose BLUR under Artistic Effect. The image will become slightly hazy. This will bring the text in focus.

Transparent text box - Right click on the text box and choose Format Shape. Under FILL, choose transparency and choose 10%. You can play around with this number and see how the slide looks.

Style 3 - Icons

Download these icons from sites like iconfinder.com or similar other sites. Ensure the icons are of the same size and represent the text. Icons look good when you have 3 to 5 items in the agenda. For more items, prefer Styles 1 or 2 above.

Looking for more design tips, click here and here.

Quote: Language to use while communicating